When you purchase travel insurance from Allianz Global Assistance, we send you a whole bunch of documents, including your Declaration of Coverage and your Certificate of Insurance/Policy. Please, please read them!

We know travel insurance docs aren’t exactly light reading. However, it’s really important to understand how your plan works and what travel insurance can — and can’t — protect.

Also, you have to make sure you’re happy with the plan you bought. You have 15 days (or more, depending on your state of residence) to cancel your plan and request a refund, provided you haven't started your trip or initiated a claim. After this review period, your premium is nonrefundable.

We’ll walk you through the sections of your plan, so you know what to look for.

First Step: Get the Allyz® TravelSmart App

After you purchase a travel protection plan from Allianz Global Assistance, you should immediately download the free Allyz TravelSmart app. This free app lets you keep all your plan information in your pocket for easy reference on the go.

You can see basic info at a glance: your coverage dates, policy number and the insured persons, as well as the maximum limits for each benefit. Tap “View Policy” to pull up a PDF of your policy documents, or “Email My Policy” to have the documents resent to you. Wherever you are in the world, we want to make it easy for you to access your plan information.

Get the Allyz® TravelSmart app for iPhone or Android

Your Declaration of Coverage

The Declaration of Coverage is a personalized summary of your travel insurance benefits. Here, you’ll see:

• The name of the plan you bought
• Your policy number: You’ll need this if you’re calling 24-Hour Hotline Assistance or filing a claim.
• The people insured: If someone isn’t a named insured on your plan, then they’re not covered.
• Coverage dates: Make sure you’re protected for the entire length of your trip. (If a covered delay or trip interruption prevents you from returning home as scheduled, then your coverage dates may be extended.)

You’ll also find a summary of the benefits included in your plan, when each benefit applies, and the maximum dollar-value benefit. For instance, if you bought the AllTrips Prime annual travel insurance plan, you’ll see that your travel delay benefit kicks in after a minimum covered delay of 6 hours, and that the daily limit is $200 (with a max per-person, per-trip limit of $600.) So, if an unexpected snowstorm grounds your plane overnight, you could be reimbursed up to $200 per day for a hotel room, meals and other eligible covered expenses. Sweet!

However, this summary is just that: a summary. For a detailed explanation of your plan benefits, you’ll have to keep reading.

Your Certificate of Insurance/Policy

This document explains in more detail how each benefit in your plan works; the situations in which you can be reimbursed; exclusions; and how to file a claim, among other things. Here’s a super-quick outline to guide you.

1. Travel Services During Your Trip: This section gives you a brief summary of all the ways 24-Hour Hotline Assistance can help you while you’re traveling, from foreign language translation to assistance with lost travel documents to monitoring your care if you’re hospitalized. If you find yourself in a sticky situation while traveling, don’t hesitate to call: 800-654-1908 in the U.S. and Canada, 804-281-5700 (collect) from anywhere else in the world. Or, tap “Contact” on the Allyz TravelSmart app for instant access to 24-Hour Hotline Assistance or Customer Service.

2. Definitions: What are “covered reasons”? Who is considered a “family member”? How does Allianz Global Assistance define a “pre-existing medical condition”? You’ll find all the answers in this section.

3. Description of Coverages: Here, we explain exactly how each travel insurance benefit works, and what you must do in order to file a claim. It’s really important to read, just in case you find yourself in a situation where you’ll need to use your benefits.

Pay attention to the specific covered reasons for trip cancellation, trip interruption, and other benefits. If a situation’s not named, it can’t be covered. (Learn more about covered reasons and how they work.)

You may even discover certain travel insurance benefits or features you weren’t aware of. For example, you’ll see that the emergency medical transportation benefit can pay to bring a friend or family member to you if you’ll be hospitalized for more than 48 hours during your trip. However, Allianz Global Assistance must authorize and arrange the transportation; if you simply call your sister and tell her to come see you, the cost of her trip may not be reimbursed.

4. General Exclusions: What does travel insurance not cover? Here are your answers. Exclusions are situations and circumstances in which your travel insurance will not provide reimbursement for any losses. A few key exclusions include:

• Any loss, condition, or event that was known, foreseeable, intended, or expected when your plan was purchased. So if you buy travel insurance when a named hurricane is already forecasted to hit your destination, storm-related losses would not be reimbursed.
• Normal pregnancy or childbirth, except as expressly covered under Trip Cancellation. Read more about how travel insurance protects travel during pregnancy.
• The use or abuse of alcohol or drugs
• Participating in extreme, high-risk sports and activities

In this section, you’ll also find information about whether losses due to a pre-existing medical condition can be reimbursed by your plan.

If you’re traveling and you’re unsure about whether a particular activity or situation can be reimbursed by travel insurance, pull up your plan on the TravelSmart app and check the exclusions. Or, you can use the app to call Customer Service and ask.

5. Claims Information: When you experience a loss that can be reimbursed by travel insurance, you’ll need to file a claim. We try to make the process as easy as possible! This short section explains how to file a claim online, by phone or by email. You can also start your claim on the go with the Allyz TravelSmart app. Use your phone to scan or snap pictures of key documents to upload them easily.

6. When Your Coverage Begins and Ends: Here’s a little more info about how we define your coverage period, and the circumstances in which the dates may change.

7. General Provisions: We’re almost to the end — we promise! The “General Provisions” section explains more about how your travel insurance works, and what you must do to be eligible for claims reimbursement.

8. Privacy Notice: This explains how we protect and may use your personal information.

9. Covered Supplier List: Some travel insurance plans include the financial default of a travel supplier as a covered reason for trip cancellation and trip interruption. This means a covered supplier — such as a tour operator, airline, or cruise line — ceases all operations due to its financial condition, with or without filing for bankruptcy. To be eligible for this benefit, your travel supplier must be included on this list of Covered Suppliers on your plan’s effective date.

We’ve covered a lot of ground here. Just remember that if you ever have questions about what your travel insurance can reimburse, or what any of these benefits and definitions mean, you can contact us anytime by calling or using the Allyz TravelSmart app. Experienced travel insurance advisers are here to help.

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